EVIL??? LEd's per sq inch?????

[Mike]

Evil,

I have so far aquired the following.

48 Cree XRE (cool white) Q5 bin
48 Cree XRE RB
6 Meanwell driver.

I have roughly 2300 sq inches to cover.

Plan is to use all meanwell 60-48D drivers and Cree LED's

I am thinking of finishing the LED purchase up with the XPG's (whitest color bin) and the RB's

I want more of a 15K-20K look so as well.

Build with be in sections rather than one large array of 24" I am looking into a track system to move them when I need to get in the tank for maintenace. Going to use Sunlifts to manage height above tank.

Looking at 40 degree optics for intensity (I keep al SPS in my display)


Suggestions on numbers to finish (LEDs) and color mix for the additional LED's. My guess is I will need to purchase more RB LEDS and maybe even more RB XRE's to round out the mix with the cool whites I have.

Thanks for your input!!

Mike

[evilc66]

Tank size?

[Mike]

That would help

72*36*24

[evilc66]

A tank that size will need about 180 LEDs, +/- a few when you take into account cross braces, and if you have an overly large overflow. The 180 LEDs will be in a 30x6 array (not adjusting for braces), with 2" between LEDs per row (on center), and 3" between rows. 40 degree optics will be fine for a heavy sps tank. With that in mind, keeping the array about 6-10" off the water will help elliminate and spotlighting.

My personal opinion on color mix ratios for the LEDs is to stick to a 50/50 mix of white and blue. It makes it far easier to lay everything out and not get funny little pockets of color. Let the drivers set the final color temp.

[Mike]

Evil,

When you say 30x6 do you mean length of the fixture? Or 6 rows of 30 LEDs?

[evilc66]

6 rows of 30.

[Mike]

Thanks Evil some times I need a little more translation

[Mike]

I am posting a pic of the tank so you can see the cross bracing and maybe give me some tips.

[Mike]

My goal is to hopefully be able to do this 100% LED so I can reduce the 1300 watts of MH that runs 10 hours/day along with a chiller! I estimate it cost around 125.00 just with the lights and chiller to run the tank a month. So my break even with the LED fixture would be around 10-12 months and that excludes bulb replacements.

[evilc66]

With the tank being acrylic, I would just forget the brace is even there. The acrylic will reduce the light slightly, but not enough to keep the LEDs only to the two openings. I'd stick with the 30x6 array concept.